Akron Mayor & Council Reach Agreement: DA will not pursue case against McBeth

It appears that the legal debate between Akron Borough Council and Mayor John McBeth over his salary may finally be settled, subject to a final ruling by Lancaster County Judge Jeffrey D. Wright.

The Lancaster County District Attorney’s office has also found that a criminal complaint filed by council against the mayor has no merit.

Akron Council in May had authorized borough solicitor Kenelm Shirk III to file a complaint with both the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission and the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office as it relates to Mayor McBeth’s compensation issues including his wedding activities prior to 2012.

Council had suggested McBeth was accepting a salary and accepting wedding fees, which Shirk said was illegal.

But Brett Hambright, spokesman for the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office, said Wednesday the DA will not pursue a case against the mayor

“We reviewed what was submitted to us,” Hambright said. “There will be no criminal charges.”

When contacted by phone Tuesday, Shirk said that he and McBeth’s attorney, Glenn Smith, of York, met with Wright in his chambers the morning of Oct. 1. At that time, they agreed on a solution to the matter, subject to preliminary approval by Akron Borough Council, McBeth, and final approval by Wright.

A special council meeting was scheduled for Monday, Oct. 5, and advertised in the LNP media legal notices Saturday, Oct. 3. Council President Tom Murray said the only business conducted at that five-minute meeting was the proposed settlement with the mayor.

If the agreement is approved by Wright, McBeth would receive $150 for his services as mayor and the borough would pay up to $2,000 for his legal fees. (In a dispute between a mayor and borough council, the Pennsylvania borough code has a provision that allows the mayor to hire outside counsel, for which the borough is obligated to pay up to $4,000 per year.)

McBeth, who is in his third term as mayor, had been receiving $750 in salary per year, a sum determined as part of the borough’s annual budget process. That process works for every borough employee, except the mayor. State law requires that the mayor’s salary be set by ordinance. The last time an Akron borough council passed such an ordinance was in 1960. At the time — 55 years ago — the mayor’s salary was set at $150.

McBeth received $150 in salary for 2014, which is what he will receive per year for the rest of his term, which runs through the end of 2017.

In other words, for half-a-century, from 1960 through 2013, McBeth and his predecessors were technically overpaid. That said, council appears to have no sentiment for seeking reimbursement for those overpayments from McBeth or any former mayor. Informal comments to that effect have been made at several council meetings.

When this lapse was pointed out to them, council determined they were legally obligated to pay McBeth the salary last set by ordinance. Unhappy with that decision, McBeth hired a lawyer, Smith, to advise him, but did not file suit. Council, through its lawyer, K. L. Shirk, filed a petition for a declaratory judgment against the mayor.

A declaratory judgment, according to Cornell University’s Legal Information Institute, is: “A binding judgment from a court defining the legal relationship between parties and their rights in the matter before the court. A declaratory judgment does not provide for any enforcement, however. In other words, it states the court’s authoritative opinion regarding the exact nature of the legal matter without requiring the parties to do anything.”

Presumably, both parties in this case — borough council and McBeth — would, if Wright gives his blessing, abide by the terms of the agreement.

In an email statement to The Review, McBeth had this to say: “I have agreed to an out-of-court settlement. Because Akron Borough council has increased the mayor’s salary since 1960 without taking action by ordinance as required by law, the salary amount for my current term as mayor will revert to the 1960 amount of $150 a year. Although I had sought legal advice on this matter, I had previously agreed to a cooperative mediation process on this problem, but Akron Borough Council would not agree to that.”

By phone, McBeth said both his and the borough’s legal fees would have been significantly reduced if a mediator had been brought in. He also said he’s confident the borough’s legal bill was several times the $2,000 spent on his lawyer.

A call to the borough office’s right-to-know contact seeking the amount of the legal bill was not immediately returned. Wright was in criminal court as this report was being prepared, and he was not available for comment.

Dick Wanner is a reporter for the Ephrata Review. He can be reached at rwanner.eph@lnpnews.com, or by phone at 419-4703.

2 Comments

Robert Landis

October 7, 2015 at 1:45 pm

Glad this mess is over with. It made the Boro Council look bad. Perhaps new council should be the first action for the Boro Council in 2016. That followed by an update on a Mayor’s salary determination by ordinance.

Appreciate Mr. Wanner tried to find out what the legal costs for Mayor McBeth were. It would be interesting to know. I’d also be interested in the Ephrata Review making a PA right-to-know request for total Akron borough’s legal costs for this matter. I’m guessing they are higher than the $600 annual reduction to the mayor’s salary for the remainder of his term.